Hello

KarenS49
KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hello everyone. I hope you won't mind me jumping right in. I found this board a couple of days ago and have been reading a lot. Cancer chose me in March of 2004 when I was diagnosed with stage 2 rectal cancer. I had surgery within days to remove the large mass and resection my colon. No lymph nodes were involved and my margins were clean. I then did 6 months of 5FU chemo and 24 of 27 recommended radiation treatments. In August of 2007 cancer reared it's ugly head again with mets to the left lobe of my liver. I had 40% of my liver removed and then did 6 months of Folfox chemo. I'm currently NED and thankful. You all seem like a wonderful bunch and I'm glad to have found you.

Karen

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #2
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • Kathleen808
    Kathleen808 Member Posts: 2,342 Member
    #3
    welcome
    Hi Karen,
    Welcome. This is a great group of people. Supportive, caring, informative and there when you need an ear.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen
  • Shayenne
    Shayenne Member Posts: 2,342
    #4
    Kathleen808 said:

    welcome
    Hi Karen,
    Welcome. This is a great group of people. Supportive, caring, informative and there when you need an ear.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen

    HI!
    Welcome Karen! always nice to meet new friends on the board! I am a newbie as well, just diagnosed last month, and you will love how supportive and encouraging everyone here is, please keep posting and let us know how you're doing :)

    ~Donna
  • ADKer
    ADKer Member Posts: 147
    #5
    Hello
    Hello Karen! I am also fairly new to this board and mostly read alot. Folks here are very generous with their knowledge, support and concern for one another. I have also had colon and liver resection, although compacted into March through October of last year, so I share some of what you have been through. Welcome and I hope that you remain NED.
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #6
    KarenS49
    May I ask you a question ?..When you were first diagnosed and went through the surgery and then the radiation/5fu did you do the post op 6 months of Mop up chemo since you were No Nodes involved or was the 5fu and radiation considered to be your mop up treatment. I may have missed something here and if I have I apologize for sounding so incompetent. But mine went like rad/5fu then surgery then 12 mop up treatments of chemo. I wondered because of the reoccurence after you found clear margins and no nodes why you re occurred ? I understand that reoccurence is high especially among rectal cancer patients but with no node involvement and clear margins I would think that the chance of re occurence would be slight. I hope this isn't way out of line, its only because I am in the same boat and try to out think my disease. Normally for me its not a good idea to do that. God Bless ya and good luck.....
  • vinny3
    vinny3 Member Posts: 928 Member
    #7
    Hi Karen,

    Welcome to the site. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 rectal cancer almost a year after you. Had the preop chemo/radiation and then a local excision. Recurrance 8 months later, had a resection with permanent colostomy followed by 9 cycles of Folfox. Ned so far since. I'm glad you are NED after all you have been through. Feel free to ask any questions although I hope and pray you don't have to.

    ****
  • KarenS49
    KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
    #8
    Buzzard said:

    KarenS49
    May I ask you a question ?..When you were first diagnosed and went through the surgery and then the radiation/5fu did you do the post op 6 months of Mop up chemo since you were No Nodes involved or was the 5fu and radiation considered to be your mop up treatment. I may have missed something here and if I have I apologize for sounding so incompetent. But mine went like rad/5fu then surgery then 12 mop up treatments of chemo. I wondered because of the reoccurence after you found clear margins and no nodes why you re occurred ? I understand that reoccurence is high especially among rectal cancer patients but with no node involvement and clear margins I would think that the chance of re occurence would be slight. I hope this isn't way out of line, its only because I am in the same boat and try to out think my disease. Normally for me its not a good idea to do that. God Bless ya and good luck.....

    Buzzard
    I was diagnoised at Ft Campbell, Ky army hospital and was sent straight to Vanderbilt Medical Center. There they thought it best in my case, because the tumor was so large, to have surgery first and then have the radiation/5FU to mop up anything that the surgery missed, but they were able to get it all. For me, I'm glad they did the surgery first, because the chemo and radiation was very hard on me. I kept getting an ileus from the radiation and had to stop a few treatments shy of finishing, and the chemo made me deathly sick, but I finsihed all the treatments on schedule. At my lowest I was down to 73 pounds and I honestly don't think I could have done more.

    I don't know why I got mets to the liver, I guess it's the nasty nature of the disease to be unpredictable. I'm sorry you're having to go through this and I know how you must worry. I worried too, and I can't help fearing it will come back again. Have you completed your treatments? I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

    Best wishes,
    Karen
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #9
    KarenS49 said:

    Buzzard
    I was diagnoised at Ft Campbell, Ky army hospital and was sent straight to Vanderbilt Medical Center. There they thought it best in my case, because the tumor was so large, to have surgery first and then have the radiation/5FU to mop up anything that the surgery missed, but they were able to get it all. For me, I'm glad they did the surgery first, because the chemo and radiation was very hard on me. I kept getting an ileus from the radiation and had to stop a few treatments shy of finishing, and the chemo made me deathly sick, but I finsihed all the treatments on schedule. At my lowest I was down to 73 pounds and I honestly don't think I could have done more.

    I don't know why I got mets to the liver, I guess it's the nasty nature of the disease to be unpredictable. I'm sorry you're having to go through this and I know how you must worry. I worried too, and I can't help fearing it will come back again. Have you completed your treatments? I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

    Best wishes,
    Karen

    Karen........
    I too had my surgery at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Dr Alan Herline was my surgeon, brilliant man. Gives me an 85% chance of non re occurence if I did the mop up 12 treatments after surgery. That was a no brainer after he told me that. My onc only increased my chance of staying NED by 5% if I did the post op chemo. I was almost convinced to not have it but am glad I am now almost done with it. I know that with rectal cancer the % of re occurence is higher than other cancers.
    I went from 205 to 182 but amnow back to 198 and I like the feeling I have with this weight (no belly).
    Thank you , I was just wondering if the post op regimen back in 04 was different than what the protocol is now...My Onc told me that the protocol use to be a year of every other week treatments , now it has been reduced to 6 months and also they think that 9 is just as sufficient as 12 but they can't get enough people to quit at 9 to see if they are right in their thinking.
    I do think a little about re occurence but I have turned it over to someone a lot stronger to carry that burden for me. I have children 4-6-14 and 23 and I have more to do than worry about re occurence, In 3 weeks I will be done with my 12 post op mop up treatments and I am going to live life like it never happened and never look back. My God, Family, and I all deserve that.....as everyone does.....Thank you for your time and concern...God Bless you and Good Luck........
  • KarenS49
    KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
    #10
    Kathleen808 said:

    welcome
    Hi Karen,
    Welcome. This is a great group of people. Supportive, caring, informative and there when you need an ear.
    Aloha,
    Kathleen

    Aloha Kathleen
    I'm so sorry your husband is having to go through this. I'll keep the both of you in my thoughts and prayers.

    Where in Hawaii do you live? I lived on Oahu for about 4 years. I loved every minute of it.

    Best wishes,
    Karen
  • KarenS49
    KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
    #11
    vinny3 said:

    Hi Karen,

    Welcome to the site. I was diagnosed with Stage 2 rectal cancer almost a year after you. Had the preop chemo/radiation and then a local excision. Recurrance 8 months later, had a resection with permanent colostomy followed by 9 cycles of Folfox. Ned so far since. I'm glad you are NED after all you have been through. Feel free to ask any questions although I hope and pray you don't have to.

    ****

    Hi ****
    I also had to have a permanent colostomy. It took me awhile to come to terms with it. How are you doing with yours?

    Karen
  • KarenS49
    KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
    #12
    Buzzard said:

    Karen........
    I too had my surgery at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Dr Alan Herline was my surgeon, brilliant man. Gives me an 85% chance of non re occurence if I did the mop up 12 treatments after surgery. That was a no brainer after he told me that. My onc only increased my chance of staying NED by 5% if I did the post op chemo. I was almost convinced to not have it but am glad I am now almost done with it. I know that with rectal cancer the % of re occurence is higher than other cancers.
    I went from 205 to 182 but amnow back to 198 and I like the feeling I have with this weight (no belly).
    Thank you , I was just wondering if the post op regimen back in 04 was different than what the protocol is now...My Onc told me that the protocol use to be a year of every other week treatments , now it has been reduced to 6 months and also they think that 9 is just as sufficient as 12 but they can't get enough people to quit at 9 to see if they are right in their thinking.
    I do think a little about re occurence but I have turned it over to someone a lot stronger to carry that burden for me. I have children 4-6-14 and 23 and I have more to do than worry about re occurence, In 3 weeks I will be done with my 12 post op mop up treatments and I am going to live life like it never happened and never look back. My God, Family, and I all deserve that.....as everyone does.....Thank you for your time and concern...God Bless you and Good Luck........

    Buzzard
    I can't say enough wonderful things about the care I received at Vanderbilt, even though I had some major complications. I also have a brilliant surgeon, Dr Nipun Merchant, he's the assistant professor of surgery at the medical school.

    I know you want to put all this behind you and get back to living life to the fullest with your lovely family. The young man shown with me in my avitar is my oldest son Robby after at his highschool graduation. At one point I didn't think I would live to see him graduate. Not only did I live to see him graduate, I also got to hear him give the valedictorian speech!
    He is now a junior at Vanderbilt University with a double major in math and physics. Upon graduation he plans on going into Vandy's medical physics program. One day he'll be administering radiation to people like us. Gosh, I'm sorry for rambling. Keep positive and the faith that God will see you through this.

    Karen
  • KarenS49
    KarenS49 Member Posts: 19
    #13
    Buzzard said:

    Karen........
    I too had my surgery at Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center. Dr Alan Herline was my surgeon, brilliant man. Gives me an 85% chance of non re occurence if I did the mop up 12 treatments after surgery. That was a no brainer after he told me that. My onc only increased my chance of staying NED by 5% if I did the post op chemo. I was almost convinced to not have it but am glad I am now almost done with it. I know that with rectal cancer the % of re occurence is higher than other cancers.
    I went from 205 to 182 but amnow back to 198 and I like the feeling I have with this weight (no belly).
    Thank you , I was just wondering if the post op regimen back in 04 was different than what the protocol is now...My Onc told me that the protocol use to be a year of every other week treatments , now it has been reduced to 6 months and also they think that 9 is just as sufficient as 12 but they can't get enough people to quit at 9 to see if they are right in their thinking.
    I do think a little about re occurence but I have turned it over to someone a lot stronger to carry that burden for me. I have children 4-6-14 and 23 and I have more to do than worry about re occurence, In 3 weeks I will be done with my 12 post op mop up treatments and I am going to live life like it never happened and never look back. My God, Family, and I all deserve that.....as everyone does.....Thank you for your time and concern...God Bless you and Good Luck........

    Buzzard
    Geez, don't know why that posted twice.

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